Originally Posted by
newyorkgeorge
Generally, but by no means always, late night flights go up the East River for a more direct approach, meaning you want to be sitting on the left side. Day and early evening flights more up the Hudson River to the North and then the turn back around to LGA, the right side. Also, approaches can change very close to landing (on a number of occassions the pilot has come on the intercom to announce a different approach).
The River Visual 13 approach was the default for many, many years, but IME is very rare now (maybe 1 such approach in my last 50 flights into LGA). The most common landings for me over the last 3 years have been on runways 4, 22 and 31, in that order.
I have never had a pilot announce a change in approach close to landing. AFAIK they are not supposed to make any announcements once below 10,000 feet except for emergency situations (sterile cockpit rule).
Originally Posted by
dstan
I've flown into LGA I don't know how many hundreds of times, but I never tire of the view.